International Society for Academic Research on Shamanism

ISARS 2026 SEOUL

Shamanism and Power
Dialogues Across Knowledge, Art, and Society
June 24–27, 2026 · Sogang University, Seoul
26

Friday, June 26

Day Three

Timetable

Time
Sessions
09:00–10:30
The Global Appeal of Korean Shamanism5 peopleContemporary Shamanism, Power, the Arts and Modern Expressions6 peopleShamanism, Art & Diaspora4 peopleShamanic Materiality: Body, Object & Performance4 people
10:30–11:00
Coffee Break
11:00–12:30
Shamanism and Contradictions in Africa and Beyond – Part 14 peopleNegotiating Spirits: Contemporary Shamanism in China (I)4 peopleK-pop Demon Hunters and Shamanism4 peopleMongolian Shamanism4 peopleDigital, Media & Contemporary Shamanism5 peopleTheory, Movement & Yakutia4 people
12:30–14:00
Lunch (Provided) & Korean Dance Performance
14:00–15:30
Negotiating Spirits: Contemporary Shamanism in China (II)4 peopleSounding Shamanic Worlds: Music, Rhythm, Dance, and Voice from Court and Shrine to the Secular Stage5 peopleKorean Shamanism: Ritual, Music & Region4 peopleVietnam & Korea: Comparative Shamanism4 peopleCross-Cultural Asia-Pacific4 peopleMethodology & Ethics in Shamanism Research4 people
15:30–16:00
Coffee Break
16:00–17:30
Shamanism and Contradictions in Africa and Beyond – Part 23 peopleMultibeing Agencies, Joint Power: Mediating Power Through Craft, Ritual, and Relationships4 peopleKorean Shamanism: Urban, Religion & Modernity5 peopleMaritime Southeast Asia & Global Contexts4 peopleCross-Cultural Healing, Power & Cosmologies4 people
17:45–18:00
Closing Ceremony (J302)
18:00–19:00
Dinner (Sandwich Provided, Mary Hall)
19:00–21:00
Performance Art (Mary Hall)

Sessions & Presentations

Session 509:00–10:30J Building
The Global Appeal of Korean Shamanism
J305
Panel
Yang Jongsung
Shamanism Activities and Formality in the Age of AI
Seong Nae Kim
Haunting Memory of Violence, Ritual Laments of The Dead, and Korea’s Jeju Massacre.
Kim Dongjyu
Beyond Koreannes: Reframing Korean Shamanism in a Globalized Context
Liora Sarfati
Mediatized Global Interest and Local Shamanic Traditions in Korea
Andrea Kalff
Shamanic Agency and Ritual-Design: The First European Mudang in Dialogue
Contemporary Shamanism, Power, the Arts and Modern Expressions
J308
Panel
Veronica French
Contemporary Shamanism, Animism, and Dark Green Religion in Pop Culture
Giovanna Parmigiani
Neo-shamanism, Gender, and Sensory Politics in Contemporary Italy: The Case of Spiritual Neo-Tarantismo
Helena Karhu
In the cliff the red ochre glows fierce – Radical Creativity, Art, and Deep-time Continuum of Shamanism in East Finland
Daria KuznetsovaZOOM
Between Revival and Recolonisation: Shamanic Authority and Political Performance in Southern Siberia
Alice AhernZOOM
Magic and Shamanism in ‘The Irish Folklore Trilogy’: Nature and the Land as sites of re-enchantment in popular culture works
Aaron French
Moderator
Shamanism, Art & Diaspora
J304
Individual Session
Gilah Yelin Hirsch
Artist as Shaman
Zavi Kang Engles
A Magnitude in Motion: Remaking Shamanism in Contemporary Korean American Poetry and Art
Caterina Angela Agus
The Power of the Bear: Shamanic Figures, Cosmic Mediations and Ritual Transformations from Northern Emisphere Cosmologies to Alpine Carnivals
Galina Sychenko
The power of words and the power of vocal sounding: between the “classical” and the reduced forms of South Siberian shamanism
Shamanic Materiality: Body, Object & Performance
J307
Individual Session
park Jeongae
The Hackberry Tree(pangnamu) as a Shamanic Subject: Power, Memory, and Non-Human Agency in Hwang Sok-yong’s Halmae
Shine
The Somatic Experience of Energetic Cleansing: A Shamanic Perspective
Davide Torri
The Power of Forms. Shamanic objects from invisibility to manifestation and back again.
Lia Zola
Shamans and museums, shamans in museums
10:30–11:00
Coffee Break
Session 611:00–12:30J Building
Shamanism and Contradictions in Africa and Beyond – Part 1
J305
Panel
Agnieszka Podolecka
South African sangomas as mediators between contradictive realities. The power of hope and forgiveness.
Bobby Luthra Sinha & Annapurna Pandey
Between Spirits and the State: Indigenous Healing and Power Asymmetries of the Shamans in India’s Tribal Communities
Fábio Stern
Shamanism in Academia? Appropriation, Adaptation, and the New Age Legacy in Brazilian Naturology
Joana Bahia
Spiritual technologies, agency and healing during COVID
Negotiating Spirits: Contemporary Shamanism in China (I)
J306
Panel
Naran Bilik
Shamanism and Thirdness: Negotiating Middle Ground
Shuyun Guo
The Connotation and Characteristics of Dualistic Thinking in Manchu Shamanism: A Perspective from the Concept of Deities and Spirits in the Wusu Guwalgiya Clan
Xiaoshuang Liu
Revisiting Self-Concept: Shamanic Treatment of Mental Illness in Northern China
Runze Cao
Gendered Exclusion in Contemporary Manchu Shamanism: Tradition, Modernization, and the Politics of Sacred Authority
Mongolian Shamanism
J302
Individual Session
Tegshbayar Gerelbayar
Contemporary Mongolian Shamanism: A Case Study of Spirit Teachings, Q&A Practices, and Rituals through Social Media and Print Media
Feng Liu
Between Fire and Spinning: Power, Trance, and Revival in Mongolian Shamanism
Khishigsuren Dorj
Legends of Ancient Mongol Boo
Zhenting Zuo
Iteration, Reconstruction and Adaptation: Miao/Hmong Shamanism Culture in Miao/Hmong Cultural Tourism
Digital, Media & Contemporary Shamanism
J303
Individual Session
Maryam Abbasi
Streaming Spirits: Occult Lives, Digital Rituals, and Mediated Power in Contemporary Iran
Andrej Kapcar
Digital Shamans and the Occult Interface: Reimagining Shamanic Identity in Posthuman Gaming Worlds
Isabel Weitschies
From Trance to Trending: Digital Mediation and Ritual Authority in Mediumship Practices of Mother Goddess Worship in Vietnam
SUN YUTING
Sacred Reconstruction in the Algorithmic Age: A Study of "Digital Spirituality" and Divination Practices Among Chinese and Korean Youth
Tom Wang
At the Drum's Edge –– Documentary on My Journey to the Northeast, Shamanism, and Folk Culture
Theory, Movement & Yakutia
J304
Individual Session
Giorgio De Martino
"Per aspera ad astra" - Bioenergy, Dance, Power, and Shamanism: Steps Toward a Methodology for Investigating the Importance of Astrology and Cultural Astronomy in Shamanic Studies: Calculation and Negotiation between Heaven and Earth
Veronica French
Contemporary Shamanism, Animism, and Dark Green Religion in Pop Culture
Oleg Sidorov
New interaction with «old» spirits in the shamans’ practices: case of Yakutia, Siberia.
Lee Hyun-jung
Appropriation and Transmission of Sacredness: Shamanism as a Contemporary Folklore Source and Its Critical Interpretation
K-pop Demon Hunters and Shamanism
J307
Panel
Seil Oh
K-pop Demon Hunters and Shamanism from the Perspective of the Sociology of Religion (co-presented with Jimin Oh)
Jimin Oh
K-pop Demon Hunters and Shamanism from the Perspective of the Sociology of Religion (co-presented with Seil Oh)
Lin Kim
Mediated Shamanism in K-pop Culture: Visuality, Reception, and the Global Imaginary
Mikyoung Kim & Yeonchang Sung
Visualizing Shamanism: Mythic Mediation between Life and Death in K-pop Demon Hunters and Coco (co-presented with Yeonchang Sung)
12:30–14:00
Lunch (Provided) & Korean Dance Performance
Session 714:00–15:30J Building
Negotiating Spirits: Contemporary Shamanism in China (II)
J305
Panel
Feng Qu
The Double Identities of the Shaman and the Dualistic Attitudes of the State: An Exploration of Contemporary Organizational Shamanism in Northeast China
Haiyan Xing
Spirits of Healing: Xibo Shamanic Therapeutics and the Cultural Ecology of Ritual Persistence in Contemporary China
Yunfan Zhang
From Shamanic Rituals to Digital Divination: The Transformation of Superstition in Contemporary China
Zhengting Zuo
Iteration, Reconstruction and Adaptation: Miao/Hmong Shamanism Culture in Miao/Hmong Cultural Tourism
Sounding Shamanic Worlds: Music, Rhythm, Dance, and Voice from Court and Shrine to the Secular Stage
J306
Panel
Chun In Pyong
The Deongdeokgung Rhythm in Shamanic Ritual Music and the Rhythm of Chihwapyeong in the Annals of King Sejong
SO Inhwa
Interpretation of Salpuri Dance in Association with Shamanism
Song Mee-hyang
Rhythmic Structure (Jangdan) and Melodic Characteristics of the “Emperor’s Reproach Exorcism” (Hwangje Puri) at the Geumseongdang Shrine
Jocelyn Clark
Give and Take: Sinawi, Shamanic Authority, and the Politics of Cultural Heritage
Seah Hong
Masculinity and Phonic Mechanisms in Mongolian Shamanism: The Correlation Between 'Khoomei' Throat Singing and Spiritual Manifestation
Korean Shamanism: Ritual, Music & Region
J302
Individual Session
Youmi Kang
Ritual After Fire: Yeonhee and the Restoration of Transcendence
Kim Younghee
The Ritual Effects and Social Meanings of the Jeju Gut, Viewed through the Cultures of 'Puri' (Unbinding) and 'Solidarity'
Sujie Kim
Yŏlmyeong Ollim and Ritual Remediation: Shamanic Elevation of Names in Jeju 4·3 Memorial Practices
Sadie-o Park
Tension and Resolution at Gates: The Twelve Gates in Jeju Ritual of the Dead
Vietnam & Korea: Comparative Shamanism
J303
Individual Session
Tran Hoai
Forest Spirits, Ritual Power, and Ecological Governance: Shamanic Mediation in Contemporary Highland Vietnam
Cho Won-rae
A Study on the Correlation and Distinctiveness of Shamanism and Feng Shui (Pungsu-jiri): Focusing on Resonance through Spirits and Ancestral Rites
Andrea Kalff
Shamanic Agency and Ritual-Design: The First European Mudang in Dialogue
Wongi Jeong
Tuning Relations through Verbal Art: Recitation-Chanting-Improvised Singing the Myth of Gang-nim, Messenger of the Underworld, in Jeju Shamanic Ritual
Cross-Cultural Asia-Pacific
J304
Individual Session
Kao Ya-ning
Offerings and Cultural Significance in Zhuang Shamanic Rituals
Yayoi Mitsuda
Language Revitalization and the Transformation of Shamanic Knowledge: Oral-Written Transmission among the Thao of Taiwan
Chun Wei Daniel Lin
Indigenous Spiritual Forces in the News: Representation, Recognition, and Reconciliation in the Peripheral Vision of the Public Eye
Khalilah Nur 'Azmy
Chant, Authority, and Ecological Politics among Woman Shamans of the Meratus Mountains
Methodology & Ethics in Shamanism Research
J307
Individual Session
Carolina Ivanescu
‘You must experience it’: Art, Embodiment, and Knowledge Production in Shamanic Research
Alice Barale
Dialogue and Power: Three Theoretical Paradigms in the Mirror of Artificial Intelligence
Han Sang Kim; Eunjung Kim; Hyun Gyung Kim
The Power of the Gaze Intertwined: Visual Ethnographers at Shamanic Rituals
Antonetta L. Bruno
"The Power of Documentation: Scriptorality, Authenticity, and Discourse Construction of Shamanism Scandals in Korea"
15:30–16:00
Coffee Break
Session 816:00–17:30J Building
Shamanism and Contradictions in Africa and Beyond – Part 2
J305
Panel
Etienne Bourel
Aspects of the practice of ombwiri in northeastern Gabon in light of issues of social change and development
Katarzyna Wojtylak
The healer who can harm: Ambivalent spiritual authority among the Murui-Muina from Northwest Amazonia
Ullrich Kleinhempel
South African sangomas as mediators between contradictive realities. The power of hope and forgiveness.
Multibeing Agencies, Joint Power: Mediating Power Through Craft, Ritual, and Relationships
J306
Panel
Victoria Soyan Peemot
Wisdom of the Snake: the Guardian, Helper, and Power of the Tyva Kham
Oyunbadam Chuluu (Erdenechimeg)
Crafting for the Shamans: Stitching Energy and Belonging Into Being
Jimena Bigá
Spirit-imbued Implements and Collective Agency in Sub-Middle São Francisco River, Brazil
Artysh Mongush
Mediation Between Worlds: The Shamanic Ritual “Uzun Khonuk” in Tyvan Funeral and Commemoration Practices
Korean Shamanism: Urban, Religion & Modernity
J302
Individual Session
Hyun Suk Kim
Urban Shamanism in Professional Sports: Are KBO Players’ Jinxes a Form of Shamanic Practice in Modern Seoul?
Myungsu Noh
The Similarities Between Shamanism and the Church Life of Urban Protestant Women in Korea
Hyoung-June Shim
The fragmentation of divination's functions in online fortune-telling reviews: Comfort, knowledge, and play redistributed across platforms, and the place of shamanic counseling
Sunjea Jay Lee
Reconsidering “Shamanism” under Cybernetic Totalism: Local Faith, Language, and Artistic Practice
WooHyun Jung
Unmediated Communion in a Mediated Market: Mu-bul Tongsin (無不通神) as Vernacular Critique of Korean Shamanic Commerce
Maritime Southeast Asia & Global Contexts
J303
Individual Session
Dewi Sekar Farrasyifa
Caring through Ritual Labor: Exploring the Life Course Practice & Reproductive History of an Aging Maraji in Transforming Ciluar
Boon-Ooi Lee
The Dang-ki’s Body as the Axis of Power Relationships in Singapore
Aglaia Iankovskaia
Ritual specialists in northern Sumatra: authority between text and community
Yeong Ran Suh
Who Speaks for Village Rituals that Capitalism Does Not Mimic? : Ruptures in Village Rituals as Critique of the Capitalocene and Modernist Development
Cross-Cultural Healing, Power & Cosmologies
J307
Individual Session
Evgenia Fotiou
A House Full of Medicine: Sorcery, Power and Agency in a Healing Ritual in the Peruvian Amazon
Diana Espírito Santo
Building power bridges to the infra-world in demonic Havana: creole spiritism´s control of chaotic times
Khusnul Khotimah
Guardians of the Sacred: Shamanic Preservation, Merapi, and Digital Rituals in Yogyakarta
Elsa Rossi
Spiritism in Clinical Contexts: Correlations between “Shamanic” Mediumism and Kardecist Practice in Brazil
17:45–18:00
Closing Ceremony (J302)
18:00–19:00
Dinner (Sandwich Provided, Mary Hall)
19:00–21:00
Performance Art (Mary Hall)